Skilled trades require defined, precise skills learned in specialized high school courses, vocational schools, and sometimes two-year associate degree programs, or with on-the-job-training during apprenticeships. Though these jobs are physically demanding, they are also well-paying and flexible. In most cases, the work is locally based and if a move to another location is in your future, the skills you learn are geographically transferable. And it is unlikely that jobs like these will be outsourced.

If college is not for you and you like working with your hands, a job in the skilled trades industry is probably an excellent career path to investigate.

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